Ford Advances Supplier Diversity With New Technology-Sharing
and Innovation Initiative

DETROIT, Oct. 1, 2008 - Ford Motor Company
is launching a new initiative to assist minority- and women-owned business
enterprises in developing innovative products and technical expertise.
Under the program, called the Joint Technology Framework, Ford will provide
designated suppliers special access to intellectual property assets so they
can develop products for future commercial use.

"We need to support our minority- and women-owned suppliers in moving
toward a business model that competes on technology, in addition to cost,"
said Tony Brown, Ford group vice president, Global Purchasing. "Under the
Joint Technology Framework, we will work with our suppliers on innovating
new products -- allowing them to attract the engineering talent and new
sources of capital to migrate these technologies to the next level."

Ford is making the announcement in conjunction with a Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition event. The group, led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, is honoring
Brown with the "Keep Hope Alive" award at its Ninth Annual Automotive
Symposium Reception tonight at the Motor City Casino in Detroit. The
theme for this year's symposium, which continues Thursday, is "The Role of
the Diversity Strategy in the Global Automotive Industry."

Under the Joint Technology Framework, suppliers will have access to
certain intellectual property from Ford Research and Advanced Engineering.
Established in 1951, the group is tasked with anticipating automotive
industry trends and requirements five to 10 years in the future, then
developing solutions that can be incorporated into Ford products and
processes. It currently has 12 areas of focus, spanning from powertrain to
advanced modeling to environmental science and emissions.

Ford Research and Advanced Engineering accounts for more than one-third
of Ford's intellectual property. In some cases, Ford provides outside
entities, such as universities or other companies, a license to use patents
Ford has developed. The Joint Technology Framework initiative puts in
place a formal process in which minority- and women-owned enterprises will
have access to specific product and process intellectual property that can
directly benefit their businesses.

"The Research and Advanced Engineering group has been a tremendous asset
to Ford Motor Company for nearly 60 years," said Dr. Gerhard Schmidt,
Ford's Chief Technical Officer and vice president of Research and Advanced
Engineering. "We welcome the opportunity to share our technical expertise
in ways that promote the development and growth of our diverse supply
base."

Ford has identified an initial group of six minority and women-owned
suppliers to launch Joint Technology Framework:

These suppliers are members of Ford's Aligned Business Framework (ABF).
The ABF program emphasizes stronger collaboration between Ford and its
suppliers and provides greater opportunity for minority- and women-owned
business enterprises to build scale, achieve profitable growth and become
sustainable enterprises over the long term. The Joint Technology Framework
is a key enabler to further delivering on our ABF commitments.

"ABF and our new joint technology initiative are consistent with our
guiding One Ford philosophy of achieving profitable growth for all of our
stakeholders," said Brown. "Suppliers are part of the Ford team, and with
them we are working toward delivering on that goal."

Ford has a long history of leadership in supplier diversity. In 2007,
Ford's North America unit purchased a record $4.2 billion in goods and
services from tier one minority-owned suppliers and broke through the
billion-dollar barrier with tier one women-owned suppliers by spending $1.2
billion.

The 2007 increase reflects continued efforts to sustain and grow
production and non-production business with minority- and women-owned
business enterprises within the company's base of strategic suppliers in
the ABF.

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